the reason is he is too hard to market....his face on all the posters will frighten the children and attract hillbillies from the outskirts to come and see games. The last thing you want is people from Aylmer driving in for games

hahaha Davis does look creepy.
The unibrow seems like it will move if you stare at it long enough.

People are nervous with international big men I get it (Milicic, Aroujo) but neither have these guys numbers prior to the NBA come close to what JV is doing right now! With that said, YES Valenciunas is a real cornerstone for the Raptors moving forward. In 2-3 years, BC will look like a genious because JV will turn out to be the best player in last years draft. Valenciunas will hold the Interior, while Andrea will have more freedom to operate on the perimeter. This to me sounds like one of the best big man combinations in the NBA for the next decade or so.

As a side note, the Raptors front office should really keep an eye on Nikola Mirotic (only 21 years old) and what Chicago is doing with him. This guy is going to be the next big thing out of Europe (Nowtiski caliber). In a year or two this guy is going to be a stud at the 3 spot and I would urge BC to take a closer look and see if he could bring him over from Europe.

I think most people are very excited about Valanciunas and I think he's done all he can to dispel any bias against Euro bigs. The question of whether he's a franchise centre is different cause there are so few of them (3 in the last 20 years) that it doesn't seem likely he's that good. As for JV and Bargs, Bargnani is 27. I don't see him playing 10 more years. Hopefully, we can find someone better to put next to JV.

Chicago won't move Mirotic. The sad thing for Raps fans is that the Bulls used that first rounder from the Johnson trade in a package to trade up and get Mirotic. Once again, Raptor management playing the short game: running as fast as they can to stay in the same place.

the reason is he is too hard to market....his face on all the posters will frighten the children and attract hillbillies from the outskirts to come and see games. The last thing you want is people from Aylmer driving in for games

Ha. Aylmer. Never thought I'd see that town name dropped on this forum. Plus, the tractors would really slow the Gardiner worse then it already is for home games

JV is going to be a beast, if all the hype is correct. Ive seen him play and he has such tenacity in his game, he is a great mix of skill, talent, height, length, motor, energy, aggressiveness, and smarts. Not to mention he is also still really really young. Ive heard hype about Hall-of-fame material. Id be really surprised and even disappointed if he is not at least a perennial all star

JV is going to be a beast, if all the hype is correct. Ive seen him play and he has such tenacity in his game, he is a great mix of skill, talent, height, length, motor, energy, aggressiveness, and smarts. Not to mention he is also still really really young. Ive heard hype about Hall-of-fame material. Id be really surprised and even disappointed if he is not at least a perennial all star

Ok, that doesn't mean it happens right out of the gate or in the first three seasons but there are a lot fans in here who have themselves convinced he's going to hit the ground running. If he doesn't, and I think he won't, then the backlash in here will be at ridiculously, humorous levels. When he gets here he will have to:

Build his body
Learn a new style of play
Learn a different culture
Learn how to play for a whole new set of teammates.
Learn how to communicate in a language he obviously is poor at.

There are many more challenges but people won't care about that. When he struggles the bust threads will run wild and the pressure will rise.

I agree, we do it with all our players, we hype hype hype, get into unrealistic expectations, then smear smear smear. (DD, Ed, Bargs, Turk, Bosh, J.O, Marion, etcetcetc) Im not worried about the smear campaign that will come, probably during a stretch of struggle for the rookie, because i am convinced his overall career will be above and beyond most (if not all) centers in the game right now (save Howard, obviously)

Ok, that doesn't mean it happens right out of the gate or in the first three seasons but there are a lot fans in here who have themselves convinced he's going to hit the ground running. If he doesn't, and I think he won't, then the backlash in here will be at ridiculously, humorous levels. When he gets here he will have to:

Build his body
Learn a new style of play
Learn a different culture
Learn how to play for a whole new set of teammates.
Learn how to communicate in a language he obviously is poor at.

There are many more challenges but people won't care about that. When he struggles the bust threads will run wild and the pressure will rise.

i think it will be easy for him to start because he will walk into amirs almost no touches and garbage points. i expect him to be able to at the least duplicate amirs numbers right out of the gate.

i dont think that is a stretch of what he is capable of. i also expect him to be in the running for rookie of the year. finally i expect him to get colangelo an extension and by extension casey. i think both of their futures are locked together.

toronto sports is like ancient rome. as long as the people are screaming and cheering the higher ups will not make changes. similar to new york with a small man syndrome.

Valanciunas plays and produces against MEN. He accomplishes against men, some of these men far more developed than some NBA players. His potential is there, he has the ability to produce from the get-go. I don't see him having totally large impacts, but minor impacts.

An impact starting center for the years to come? Yes.

Franchise player like a Lebron, Kobe, Duncan? I don't know. Too big of an outlook in my opinion for a guy I haven't seen yet play in the league.

i think it will be easy for him to start because he will walk into amirs almost no touches and garbage points. i expect him to be able to at the least duplicate amirs numbers right out of the gate.

He's raw, but more athletic and more skilled than Amir and Ed. His body length, quickness, footwork, jumping ability can easily put up the garbage points of Amir. Has a better BASIC post game than Amir and Ed. Defensively is Jonas' strength though, and I believe down the road he will be better than both.

I think the most likely scenario is he's eased into the lineup and averages 25MPG by the end of the season. Casey and Colangelo have both already mentioned this tough veteran big man they're going to target in the off-season. My thinking is that they're looking for that because JV is going to be limited at times. They're not throwing this kid to the wolves like the Raptors did with Bosh at age 19.

If he hits Amir's 2011/2012 numbers what does that even mean? Some people are talking perrenial all-star and hall of fame. Some guys are talking #2 in the league in the paint. Is 7 and 7 going to be enough in season one with talk like that? It's a little out of control in here.

RaptorReuben wrote:

Valanciunas plays and produces against MEN. He accomplishes against men, some of these men far more developed than some NBA players.